The City of Laval says it has started to gradually re-open the nine branches of its public library network as life slowly begins to get back to normal in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The decision follows the provincial government decision last week to begin re-opening certain sectors, including cultural institutions such as libraries. The city says the process is taking place in accordance with guidelines issued by the provincial director of public health.
Beginning on May 29, exterior return chutes at library branches are open again for the return of books and other borrowed library materials. As of June 4, although only on a limited schedule, library users will also be able to pick up books or documents reserved ahead of time online, but only if they have received a confirmation by e-mail or by phone.
However, no services inside library branches are available apart from these. In the meantime, the city says no late fees are being imposed for the period during which the libraries were forced to close because of COVID-19. According to the city, all loans of books and other materials have been extended to June 30. All materials being returned will be held in quarantine for 72 days.
To ensure the security of all, certain rules have been set up to follow:
Everyone is expected to keep a distance of two meters from others at all times, whether inside or outside library branches;
Hand-washing for a minimum 20 seconds with disinfectant provided at entrances is mandatory;
Library users must bring their own carrying bags and must avoid turning up in groups when claiming their loaned materials.
Finally, the city says any persons presenting symptoms of COVID-19 will be refused acces to the libraries.
Health Canada is advising Canadians to stop using Akwaton International Multipurpose Wipes. These disinfectant wipes are labelled to contain polyhexamethylene guanidine hydrochloride (PHMG) at a concentration of 0.05% (500 ppm).
According to Health Canada, this ingredient is used as a biocidal disinfectant, but it is not approved for use in Canada. It can cause skin irritation or an allergic reaction, especially in vulnerable populations such as children.
Health Canada is advising Canadian consumers to stop using this disinfectant wipes product as it is not approved by the federal agency.
Health Canada says this product has not been authorized, which means it has not been reviewed for its safety, efficacy or quality.
Since January 2019, Fosfaton-Akwaton International Ltd. has distributed an estimated 588 boxes (25 wipes per box) in Canada. In addition to not being authorized by Health Canada, the product expired in November 2015. As a result, says the health agency, the active ingredient may no longer be effective and the water in the product may have evaporated, raising the concentration of PHMG.
What Health Canada says consumers should do:
Stop using this product. The agency says consumers should follow municipal or regional guidelines on how to dispose of chemicals and other hazardous waste. They may also return the product to the local pharmacy for proper disposal.
Consult with a health care professional if you have used this product and have health concerns.
Read product labels to verify that health products have been authorized for sale by Health Canada. Authorized health products have an eight-digit Drug Identification Number (DIN), Natural Product Number (NPN) or Homeopathic Drug Number (DIN-HM). You can also check whether products have been authorized for sale by searching Health Canada’s Drug Product Database and Licensed Natural Health Product Database.
Web giant allowed certain third-party developers to access personal information
The Competition Bureau has announced that web giant Facebook is agreeing to pay a $9 million penalty after the federal law enforcement agency concluded the company made false or misleading statements about the privacy of Canadians’ personal information on Facebook and Facebook Messenger.
Will crack down, says Bureau
“Canadians expect and deserve truth from businesses in the digital economy, and claims about privacy are no exception,” said Matthew Boswell, head of the Competition Bureau, known formally as the Commissioner of Competition.
“The Competition Bureau will not hesitate to crack down on any business that makes false or misleading claims to Canadians about how they use personal data, whether they are multinational corporations like Facebook or smaller companies,” he added.
Will also pay legal fees
According to the terms, Facebook will pay an additional $500,000 for the costs of the bureau’s investigation. The payments are part of a settlement registered last week with the Competition Tribunal in which Facebook has agreed not to make false or misleading representations about the disclosure of personal information.
Social meda platform Facebook has agreed to pay a $9 million fine following a Competition Bureau inquiry that concluded the Web Giant made misleading statements to the public.
According to a statement issued by the bureau, this includes representations about the extent to which users can control access to their personal information on Facebook and Messenger.
Six-year investigation
Following an investigation that took into account Facebook’s practices between August 2012 and June 2018, the bureau concluded that Facebook gave the impression users could control who could see and access their personal information on the Facebook platform when using privacy features.
These included the general “Privacy Settings” page, the “About” page and the audience selector menu on posts, among other things.
However, the bureau added, Facebook did not limit the sharing of users’ personal information with some third-party developers in a way that was consistent with the company’s privacy claims. This information included content users posted on Facebook, messages users exchanged on Messenger, and other information about identifiable users.
Practice still continued
The bureau said Facebook also allowed certain third-party developers to access the personal information of users’ friends after users installed certain third-party applications. While Facebook made claims that it would no longer allow such access to the personal information of users’ friends after April 30, 2015, the bureau said the practice continued until 2018 with some third-party developers.
The bureau noted that the federal Competition Act forbids companies from making false or misleading claims about a product or service to promote their business interests. This includes claims about the information they collect, why they collect it, and how they use it.
Claims must be true
According to the Competition Bureau, the Act applies to “free” digital products in the same way that it applies to regular products or services purchased by consumers. They noted that advances in technology are allowing firms to collect large amounts of data from consumers.
“Whether or not their products or services are free, firms must ensure that their claims about the collection and use of data are not false or misleading,” the Competition Bureau said in a statement issued when the penalty imposed on Facebook was announced last week.
However, the bureau acknowledged Facebook’s voluntary cooperation in resolving the matter. They said that a copy of the registered settlement (consent agreement) would be available soon on the Competition Bureau Tribunal’s website.
Targeted advertising revenue
As the Competition Bureau pointed out, Facebook is one of the largest social media platforms in the world. The company, founded by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004, recently estimated it has 2.6 billion monthly active global users. It has previously estimated that its Messenger platform has 1.3 billion monthly active global users.
Facebook earns revenue primarily by selling advertising services, including targeted advertisements, based in part on the information provided by its users.
Facebook has previously estimated that it has 24 million monthly active Canadian users. The Competition Bureau says that during the fourth quarter of 2018, Facebook’s average revenue per month per user in Canada and the United States was $34.86 U.S.
Fined $5 billion in the U.S.
Facebook has had similar penalties imposed on it in countries other than Canada. In 2019, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission imposed a $5-billion fine on the company, the largest ever of its kind for an information technology company.
And in 2016, the French government’s privacy regulation agency forced Facebook to alter its personal information tracking policy.
Last year, Facebook’s Zuckerberg announced a new vision for the company, ostensibly focused on privacy. The Competition Bureau says it strongly encourages anyone who feels they have been misled by privacy claims to file a complaint with the bureau.
An in-depth interview with Dr. Christos Karatzios, Assistant Professor of Paediatrics/Infectious Diseases – Montréal Children’s Hospital
Covid-19. Although we call it sneaky, silent killer, elusive and all kinds of epithets usually attributed to living organisms, covid-19 is not alive. It is a piece of RNA code wrapped in a protein shell. It cannot self-replicate and needs our cells to do its dirty job. There I go humanizing it again! And although most of us want this new coronavirus to die horribly, scientists like Dr. Christos Karatzios see it exactly for what it is: A parasite that does not even deserve to be called microorganism which deserves, however, enormous respect and knowledge in order to eliminate it.
Dr. Christos Karatzios.
New effect on children-Kawasaki syndrome Lately, a lot is being discussed about a larger than usual number of kids being admitted to the hospital with an inflammatory syndrome called Kawasaki. “Children started coming in with Kawasaki syndrome for which there is no test. More like a clinical hunch” said Dr. Karatzios. It is a disease originally seen in Asian kids and no one knows what is causing it. Effects include prolonged fever, face rashes, red eyes, cracked red lips, swollen strawberry looking tongue, swollen hands and feet, eventually attacking the heart. The past few weeks reports all over the world have been showing an increased number of children coming in the hospital with weird atypical Kawasaki syndrome, leading doctors to believe that some infectious agent is causing this. Covid-19 is the obvious culprit since that is the only infectious agent that is present compared to last year. “St-Justine looked at their patients; half of them tested positive to Covid, half of them not. The children who tested negative had antibodies developed for covid-19” said Dr. Karatzios.
All that means is, that at some point those children developed antibodies, killed the virus and later developed Kawasaki syndrome as an auto-immune reaction to their own antibodies. The scientific community is closely monitoring this new development. Still very rare All this scary stuff shows yet another baffling aspect of this virus. However, when it comes to children, cases of covid-19 are still very rare. “Less than 5% of the total covid-19 infections are children not to mention that children do well against the virus or are asymptomatic” said Dr. Karatzios. Out of this 5% in 4 million, only a few dozen ended up in the hospital (24 in the UK, 15 in the US a few in Montreal etc.) and out of those, an infinitesimal percentage died.
Covid-19 the hijacker and your body’s response This virus is no different than others in the way it operates. It hijacks the cells of your body (your DNA, your enzymes, your proteins) to create copies of itself. The body realizes that there is something happening that it does not like and sends messages to the immune system to send white blood cells to the infected area to swallow up the intruders. Those white blood cell first responders eat up viruses, chop them up and present them on their surface for other immune cells to come and learn about the enemy. Then the immune system starts to process… In the end it creates antibodies. These Y shaped soldiers are released in large numbers in the body and attach themselves to the virus which they now know very well. Antibodies attached to a virus can kill it by preventing the virus from entering a cell or by making the virus more appetizing (recognizable) to white blood cells to eat it. Later the body creates memory cells that contain the blueprint of those antibodies in case the virus attacks again and that is how immunity develops. Herd immunity I asked the doctor if the virus could be eliminated without a vaccine. “Yes but you would get a lot of dead and sick people from this” was his adamant reply. He explained that in order to develop herd immunity 60 to 70 percent of people have to have contracted the virus and developed antibodies to it. “As a society, do we want to sacrifice a lot more people, like in Sweden which did not follow the lockdown approach of the rest of the world, in order to develop herd immunity?” questioned Dr. Karatzios. Flattening the curve means we spare our health system a massive influx of patients. Flattening the curve means we do not have to decide who lives and who dies like in Italy. The virus will always be there, but we take the time to develop our weapons against it while minimizing our casualties. It’s a war thing! Vitamins to douse the flames after a war “There is no magic formula as to how to strengthen our immune system. But you can send your immune system to the gym by resting, sleeping 7-8 hours and eating a balanced and healthy diet” said Dr. Karatzios. He proceeded to emphasize the importance of fruits and vegetables for the vitamins they have which are very useful to the body as antioxidants. “When your immune system is fighting a war, some white cells kill viruses by pouring peroxide on them. If this inflammation is allowed to happen at a very prolonged and extreme way, it can lead to problems like cancer and can lead to an overactive immune system so the vitamins put the brakes on the immune system.” said Dr. Karatzios. Vitamin D There are a few studies that show that vitamin D is kind of protective against respiratory viruses and infuenza. So, people that have low levels of vitamin D, people who live in climates where there is not enough sun or do not consume vitamin D rich foods have more problems with respiratory viruses. Even with covid-19 there is a suggestion that sunnier places in the world tend to fare better than places with vitamin D deficiency. “A few studies show that Vitamin D helps to boost our immune system a little bit. Not a cure but it helps.”
Our immune system always needs training but… “If you live in a bubble all your life, then your immune system is not trained and does not have memory of things that are out there” said Dr. Karatzios. “Let’s say you live in this bubble and have never been vaccinated then if you venture outside for the first time, you will invariably get sick”. Dr. Karatzios brought as an example how little children with “virgin” immune systems get sick all the time when they first go to school for the first couple of years. Then they come home less sick as their immune system learns how to deal with the different microorganisms. So in a way isolation during covid does not give our immune system the opportunity to spar. As Dr. Karatzios noted, if covid would only give us mild symptoms like a cold, then yes, the immune system should get its time in the gym. “The problem is that this virus we’re looking at so much problems-10% of the people infected end up in the ICU. So do you want to end up in the ICU? And do we have enough ICU beds? No!” emphasized Dr. Karatzios. Mortality rate There has been a lot of talk about the mortality rate of this virus that Dr. Karatzios does not care too much about. “We don’t have a good measure of what the mortality rate is. We need to be understood is that to get an accurate mortality rate you need to have a denominator. Number of people that died over number of people infected. Right now, we have no idea how many people have been infected. All we are doing is doing throat swabs of the people that have been sick. How about those that did not go to the hospital and others that were asymptomatic. What we see now is the tip of the iceberg” said the doctor adding that there are probably 50 to 100 times more people infected that we never knew about. Mutations Like the flu virus, covid-19 mutates. For the moment it appears that it mutates slowly which is good news. I asked the doctor if it could mutate to a stain less dangerous and less virulent than now. “It has to mutate in a such a way as to lose its virulence. SARS-1 disappeared. It started November 2002 with a huge mortality rate of 10% and then by July 2003 it was gone” said Dr. Karatzios. Apparently, there are some indications that covid is beginning to show the same signs as SARS-1 but we have not yet peaked in cases all over the world. It is too early to foster hope that the virus will mutate in a way to make itself extinct. Covid-19 and SARS 1 They are in essence brothers. They are both coronaviruses which came from bats. SARS-1 went from bat to civet cat to human and Covid19 from bat to pangolin (most likely) to human. Covid-19 is however a much meaner brother (Complex is the word Dr. Karatzios used) because of all these immune over exaggerations that it causes which have led to thrombotic events, kidney failure and lung emboli. It has caused more stroke type events compared to SARS 1 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome).
Citing an economic prediction made recently by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Quebec International Relations Minister Nadine Girault told an online gathering of members of the Laval Chamber of Commerce and Industry last week that the year 2020 could see the worst global recession since the 1929 crash and the Great Depression that followed it.
“It’s going to be worse even than the economic crisis in 2008,” said Girault, a member of Premier François Legault’s Coalition Avenir Québec cabinet, who was the Laval C of C’s guest speaker during the teleconference.
Girault maintained that the upcoming recession stands to be worse than the 2008 downturn, because this time we aren’t dealing with a financial crisis, “but a crisis that concerns a real economy,” she said.
Consumers shaken
“Industries are unable to have access to their work places, businesses are undergoing breakages in their supply chains,” said Girault. “You can see it in consumer spending on goods and services: spending has either been cancelled or postponed. So, the confidence of households has been very, very shaken up because of confinement and because of the loss of salaries.”
Seen here in a screenshot from the Laval Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s teleconference presentation last week are (clockwise, from the left) C of C executive-director Caroline De Guire, Quebec International Relations Minister Nadine Girault, and Laval C of C president Michel Rousseau.
According to Girault, the gross domestic product (GDP) for developed nations will be shrinking by 6.1 per cent in 2020, following which they may see renewed growth of up to 4.5 per cent in 2021. In emerging nations, the GDP decrease will be 1 per cent in 2020, with a possible rebound of 6.6 per cent next year.
China to keep momentum
“So what we are seeing is that we will be facing some important challenges on this level,” she added, saying that China and India will maintain their positions as the two driving forces of the global economy. However, nations in general won’t be regaining their pre-pandemic momentum of growth quickly, said Girault.
With regards to the economic situation in Canada and Quebec, she said the IMF is forecasting a dip in the overall Canadian economy of around 6 per cent this year. Despite this, she insisted that a recovery in Quebec’s economy is already underway, although it will take several months before beginning in earnest.
New Panier Bleu program
Manufacturing is at least one of the Quebec-based industries Girault suggested the CAQ government wants to focus on. This would especially be the case in certain targeted areas such as pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and food production. In particular, she emphasized the provincial government’s new Panier Bleu program, which encourages consumers to buy products made in Quebec.
However, she cautioned that the CAQ government isn’t taking a “protectionist” stance with this policy. “Not at all,” she said. “Quebec will continue to be free trade. So, in that respect, international relations will become even more important than ever after the crisis.”
Import/export situation
Regarding imports and exports, Girault said, “We have a lot of work to do and we have many opportunities to take to be able to bring up even more our exports, even if we reduce by a lot our imports … Yes, we must be autonomous, yes we must promote local buying, but presently the re-start of exports is important if we want to create wealth in the long term.”
With the recently-ratified United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement on free trade coming into effect on July 1, Girault acknowledged to Chambre de Commerce et d’Industrie de Laval president Michel Rousseau and executive-director Caroline De Guire that the agreement will be playing a major role in Quebec’s economic fate.
New trade agreement
“What’s obvious is that if there is one thing that won’t change in all of this COVID event it is geography,” said Girault. “The United States is our principal partner at the level of exports. Presently we export more than $66 billion of goods and services to the United States. So, they are by far our principal partner, it is the national border of the country with which we share the most and this will not change.”
She said the coming into force of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement “will facilitate exchanges on the one hand. And on the other hand, they too are very open and very conscious that we must conserve the stability of supply chains. So we must conserve the same continuous production capacity and production exchanges during a time of crisis.”
Chomedey councillor Aglaia Revelakis won’t be party’s lone presence on council
With the announcement by Action Laval last Monday that councillors Paolo Galati and Isabella Tassoni are being accepted back into the caucus, Chomedey city councillor Aglaia Revelakis won’t be Action Laval’s only elected representative on Laval city council as she was at one time.
On Monday, Action Laval interim-leader Archie Cifelli announced that councillors Isabella Tassoni and Paolo Galati were being reintegrated back into the party caucus. An Action Laval spokesperson said that a provincial government investigation has now cleared Tassoni, while also pointing out that Galati was never under investigation.
Expect De Cotis to be cleared
As for Action Laval councillor David De Cotis, the spokesperson said an announcement was expected, but that he anticipated De Cotis also would be cleared. The development came after the announced departure last week of two other Action Laval caucus members.
Vimont city councillor Michel Poissant has decided to leave Action Laval.
“I’m not going anywhere – I’m staying here,” Revelakis said in an interview with the Laval News shortly after councillors Michel Poissant and Daniel Hébert announced last week that they had decided to leave the party. In a statement Poissant and Hébert issued, they said they were leaving Action Laval to pursue their mandates as independents.
First elected with Mayor Marc Demers’ Mouvement lavallois in 2013 when Demers’ party first swept into office, Poissant and Hébert were part of a group of dissidents who broke away from the mayor, citing a lack of transparency in the administration, deciding later on to join Action Laval.
In a weakened position
Despite the fact the Action Laval council caucus had grown to six city councillors by March 2019, the departure of Poissant and Hébert had left Action Laval in a weakened position once again.
In February, Action Laval’s De Cotis, Tassoni and Galati had resigned from the Action Laval caucus following leaked information suggesting they were in a potential conflict of interest involving real-estate deals. The three denied any wrongdoing and their situation was being investigated by the Commission municipale du Québec.
A loyal follower
Had Tassoni and Galati not returned this week, Revelakis would have been the only remaining Action Laval city councillor. Originally elected in the 2013 breakthrough, she is the last elected Action Laval councillor from that time.
Marigot city councillor Daniel Hébert is leaving Action Laval.
In March 2013, Revelakis was one of the very first candidates selected by party founder Jean-Claude Gobé to run in the first truly open elections the City of Laval had seen in the more than a decade since former mayor Gilles Vaillancourt had held onto power at Laval city hall.
Isolated on council
While she and Paolo Galati were the only Action Laval candidates elected in the 2013 Mouvement lavallois sweep, the two managed nonetheless to form the Official Opposition at that time. However, Galati later decided to jump over to the ML, leaving only Revelakis with Action Laval. Galati would later defect back to Action Laval as one of the group of five ML dissenters.
In the 2017 election, Revelakis continued to hold the Action Laval banner high as the party’s only candidate elected that year. She remained alone until March 2019 when councillors Galati, Hébert, Poissant, De Cotis and Tassoni left the ML, giving Action Laval the appearance at least of being the de facto opposition, even though the title officially belonged to the Parti Laval.
Future of three councillors
Revelakis said Action Laval had been waiting for the pending conclusions of the provincial inquiry to decide whether the exclusion of De Cotis, Tassoni and Galati would stand. “They had to step down from the party until their status was cleared,” she said. We’re going to rebuild this party and make sure that we win the next election.”
On Poissant’s departure
Regarding the departure of Poissant, who became Action Laval’s principal spokesperson soon after joining, Revelakis maintained that Poissant’s ambitions within the party ultimately weren’t entirely in keeping with Action Laval’s plans.
“He had the intention in the future to run as the leader of the party,” she said. “And when he saw that within our caucus and within our membership he was not the chosen one, I think he decided to go on his own.” As for Hébert, she suggested he may have felt compelled to follow Poissant out as the two were friends and allies.
Signs of life as people in Laval emerge, while COVID-19 crisis continues
While face masks and distancing measures are something we might all wish to forget eventually, Vimy Liberal MP Annie Koutrakis told the Laval News she was feeling optimistic about the future during an outdoor fundraiser held last Saturday in the parking lot of IGA Le Corbusier on Le Corbusier Blvd. in downtown Laval.
A new beginning
The fundraiser was one of the first public gatherings to be held in Laval since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis. It was conducted in conjunction with IGA Michaud on de la Concorde Blvd. East.
Guess who? While it’s hard to know for certain who’s behind those masks, it was all for a good and socially-distanced safe cause last Saturday in the parking lot at IGA Le Corbusier when hundreds of people in Laval accepted in invitation to donate the proceeds from their refundable cans and bottles to the Société Saint-Vincent de Paul Saint-Martin. Photo: Martin C. Barry-Newsfirst
In the previous days, the message had gone around on social media and by word of mouth that refundable empty cans and bottles could be brought in and the sums gathered would be donated to the Société Saint-Vincent de Paul Saint-Martin.
Koutrakis was one of several elected officials from Laval, including Laval city councillor Aline Dib, who came out to contribute empties and to lend a hand while at it.
Doing their part
“When my team and I found out that this was happening, we wanted to come and do our part and raise awareness that there are people who have needs through the year – but especially now with the COVID,” she said.
Still, she noted the importance of continuing to follow the current distancing protocols and guidelines in place. “We have to continue to do the right things and make sure we are listening to our scientists and the guidelines that are there,” said Koutrakis.
“Of course, everybody wants to be able to be with their families and to have barbecues and go to the parks. Eventually we’ll get there. But in the meantime, we don’t to risk going back to where we were eight weeks ago and we have to start all over.
‘Do the right thing’
“So I am encouraging everyone to do the right thing, make sure you are washing your hands and wearing your mask when you’re out. Most importantly, when we’re doing all this we’re saving lives and helping our heroes: the doctors, nurses and others who are out there on the frontline who never stop working so that our lives can eventually get back to normal.”
The two IGA franchise owners, Roland Lavallée of IGA Le Corbusier and Pierre Michaud of IGA Michaud et Fils, would be matching the funds gathered from the can and bottle deposit refunds up to $1,000. “This is something we decided to do to give back to the community, which is particularly in need at this time,” Lavallée said.
Key Laval street intersections to be upgraded for safety
During its most recent meeting on May 20, the City of Laval’s executive-committee gave the go-ahead for a contract to be awarded to a traffic safety consulting firm to conduct a preliminary feasibility study before the development of traffic safety solutions at 14 key intersections throughout Laval – including some in Chomedey and Fabreville.
The members of the City of Laval’s executive-committee.
The executive-committee sent its recommendation to city council to award the contract worth $239,194.71 (all contracts include tax) to SNC-Lavalin for specialized professional engineering services involving traffic and circulation.
Part of agreement
The requested work fulfills a condition the City of Laval had to meet with the provincial transport ministry to improve security at municipal intersections under the ministry’s Plan d’intervention de sécurité routière en milieu municipal (PISRMM).
The following eight intersections are involved: boulevard Lévesque and montée Saint-François; boulevard Saint-Elzéar Ouest and avenue Francis-Hughes; boulevard de la Concorde Ouest and boulevard Laval; boulevard Notre-Dame and avenue Haïfa; boulevard Dagenais Ouest and rue Ovide; avenue de la Renaissance and avenue Marc-Aurèle-Fortin; boulevard de la Concorde and boulevard Cluny; boulevard Notre-Dame and rue Montgolfier.
14 intersections in all
The following six intersections are also involved: boulevard Saint-Martin Ouest and avenue Pierre-Péladeau; boulevard Notre-Dame and 100e Avenue; boulevard Cartier Ouest and avenue Laval; boulevard Dagenais Ouest and boulevard Gabriel; boulevard Saint-Martin Ouest and boulevard Chomedey; boulevard de la Concorde Est and croissant de Callières.
At the same meeting, the executive-committee also recommended to council to award two contracts to Pavages Multipro. The contracts are worth $1,620,783.78 and $1,310,894.66. They concern 15 street blocks located in Auteuil, Souvenir-Labelle, L’Abord-à-Plouffe, Chomedey, Saint-Martin, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, Fabreville and Sainte-Rose.
Repairs and resurfacing
As well, the committee recommended awarding a contract worth $1,393,858.02 to Eurovia Québec Construction. The work involved will take place on 14 street blocks in Saint-François, Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, Val-des-Arbres, Auteuil and Laval-les-Îles. The work will include street repair and resurfacing, but subterranean sewers and water pipes won’t be upgraded as the city says they haven’t reached the end of their usefulness. The city expects the street work to last from seven to 12 years.
Finally, the executive-committee gave the go-ahead for a contract to be awarded to Entreprises Miabec for $867.597.90 to extend Gascon St. to Guénard St., including sewers, drains and household water infrastructure, in the district of Saint-François. Additional work for paving, street curbs and street lighting are also part of the work.
Class action launched alleging non-respect of ‘business interruption’ clause
A group of Quebec restaurant owners, including some in Laval, have joined forces to file a class action lawsuit against their insurance companies after the latter refused to honor claims stemming from damages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ordered to shut
The COVID-19 pandemic forced bar and restaurant owners across Quebec to shut completely on March 23. This came about following an order issued by the government of Quebec. The effect has led to enormous losses for the restauranteurs and bar owners, however.
“Unfortunately, quite a number of insurers that cover restaurants are refusing to honor their obligations by denying the fact that the impact of this pandemic was an insurable risk,” said lawyer Laurent Debrun of the firm Spiegel Sohmer who is representing three of the claimants.
Three claimants
The claimants are the Bâton rouge and l’Elixor in Laval, as well as 21st Century Foods of Montreal. They are respectively suing insurers Allianz Global Risks, Promutel Assurance and Intact Assurance in Quebec Superior Court.
The Bâton Rouge is among the restaurants that have jumped on board a class action lawsuit against insurers refusing to pay out compensation for businesses losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
For their part, the insurers are claiming that the restaurant owners didn’t suffer any physical losses caused by a disaster (such as a fire or flood), but rather are victims of a governmental decree. At least one of the insurance companies replied as such to a claimant, suggesting that compensation should be sought instead from government assistance programs that have been set up.
Claim not among exclusions
On the other hand, their lawyer maintains that the policies held by the restauranteurs were for comprehensive coverage, including all possible risks, except for certain specific exclusions. He pointed out that “interruption of business” is not among the exclusions and that it should be considered a valid claim during a pandemic.
The lawyer is asking for $739,314 for Bâton Rouge, $570,000 for Elixor, and $270,000 for 21st Century Foods. Some other restauranteurs in the province have also come forward to say they too might want to join the class action suit.
I wonder, and worry about what comes next. We have been shut down and shut out approaching three months and finally some parts of the economy are coming back to life. Some provinces have clearly done better than others in ‘flattening the curve’, but so far very few regions and countries have actually declared the virus ‘dead’.
New Zealand has, so has Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, and Hong Kong. It will never be dead or completely eradicated. Under control, is a more realistic phrase. There will always be new cases, until there is an effective vaccine. And there is hope. Canada’s Dalhousie University as you know is approved for first clinical trials for the coronavirus vaccine. But it’s in cooperation with a government controlled Chinese firm. Not at all to my liking. The manufacturer is CanSino Biologics Inc., a Chinese vaccine company.
“The intellectual property rights for the vaccine will stay in Chinese hands” according to the Canadian Center for Vaccinology. It may work. If it does, it would be a very proud moment for Canada. Although I’m not sure how many Canadians will want a China made vaccine. How many of us trust authoritarian China today. There’s also US Moderna labs partnering with a Swiss group, and OXFORD U. is with a Montana firm, all in search of THE vaccine. So there is a lot of hope. But hope needs an audacious and robust plan of action.
This has been a horrific shock. After all this suffering, isolation, strained and broken relations, conjugal violence, unemployment, and a world economy on its knees, this had better not happen again, but it might.
Many, including Dr Tony Fauci are predicting a resurgence of the virus this autumn. Developing countries South Africa, and Brazil, combined populations of 270 million, are just starting to see the virus appear. The Canada US border may be reopened too soon. So something like this could happen again in Canada. It may be worse. Dr. Robert Glatter, an emergency physician at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City says “Combined with the usual autumn influenza, the intensity of both.
There are issues we must confront now to prevent it. For example, some scientists are fearful of our over sanitizing. All our attempts against COVID-19 by cleaning, sanitizing, spraying city sidewalks, buses etc. could lead to a super bug resistant to alcohol. Scientists are already talking about diseases whose names even my computer spell check can’t get right. Sanitizers may not work or be as effective the next time.
And then there is drug resistance. Bacteria change and evolve so that a drug we once knew and saved us, can no longer perform miracles.
We can not afford to go through this again. Canada’s money has been spent. An RBC newsletter says we have “no more fire power” if we are hit again. So what’s the solution? The best way to stop a pandemic is to never let it start. We can’t enforce good hygiene in a Wuhan wet market. But we can look at home. This virus exposed Canada’s weak chief physician who is re-active and not pro active, and exposed weak top doctors in Quebec and Ontario. It exposed woeful inadequacies in our health care system, the worst being nursing homes, where our seniors led the number of fatalities across the country. This must not happen again. There is just too much pain.
Is the answer global cooperation? The WHO is racked with politics and can’t be trusted. Neither can the world’s two super powers, the US and China. Canada must first become as self-sufficient as possible in as many areas as possible. Mr. Trudeau, please stop these daily media managed appearances and return to Parliament. We must absolutely develop our own supply chain in health, food, and energy and stop relying on others. This is a health care crisis. We absolutely must focus and spend in our health care system and health care workers. Remove the layers of crippling health department bureaucracy that prevent provinces like Quebec and Ontario from responding swiftly and effectively.
I’ve been reading a Dr. Jim Yong Kim a British physician and anthropologist with a list of credentials the length of a gurney. He suggests the five-pronged “weapons” we have been using. We all know them by now. Social distancing, contact tracing, testing, isolation, and treatment. Says Dr. Kim, “Do this over and over and you will defeat the virus”. CONTACT TRACING jumped out at me. It has to be done without violating our privacy rights, especially if using a smart phone app. It’s very labour intensive and involves a lot of detective work.
BC got it. It ramped it up early, increased its staff six-fold, and now attributes CONTACT TRACING as one of the main reasons it has been able to control this virus. We have to be on the offensive for the next enemy. We must do our part. Continue distancing, hand washing, masks. And our governments must rectify health care, secure our supply chains, reduce layers of bureaucracy. We will then have the confidence as Canadians to attack the next wave, or new virus, quicker and more efficiently, and save precious Canadian lives.
